Resource Management

The Wildlife and Natural Resources Management Plan provides an overview of the management guidelines that will be followed to protect and enhance the natural environments throughout the city's open space holdings.

As the ecosystem on city open space properties changes, either through natural or man-made events, portions of this plan may also be altered by City Council to ensure that these properties are kept in the best possible condition and preserved as they were intended.

Such an event occurred at the Westminster Hills Open Space (Colorado Hills) in 2009 when plague eliminated 90 percent of the prairie dog population that had severely impacted the short and tall prairie grassland. After this natural event City Council designated Westminster Hills as a natural grassland area and directed staff to actively work to keep the prairie dog population in this area to a minimum.